What Hair Care Means to Women Around the World - ​ETHIOPIA

It started — as most things do — with evolution. Warmth. Protection. Perhaps even camouflage. Since then our hair has become a signifier of religion. Of political status. Of gender. Of race. A reflection of who we are. The way we treat and style our hair can speak to where we come from as much as a language or an accent or a total lack of patience on a subway platform. That’s partly because we nurture and celebrate our hair with the tools at hand: red ochre hair dye in Africa, a kaleidoscope of colored flowers in India, rain-forest-foraged ingredients in Brazil. And it’s partly because, perhaps more than any other beauty conventions, hair rituals are passed down through generations. We asked women from four corners of the globe to share some of the secrets most ingrained in their native cultures. And there are only a few thousand more where these came from.

​ETHIOPIA

“Ethiopian women love butter,” says model and activist Gelila Bekele, who was born in Addis Ababa. For centuries, women in Ethiopia have relied on raw, unsalted butter to nourish dry hair. “Moisture for black hair has taken myriad forms depending on availability and location,” says Noliwe Rooks, an associate professor of Africana and feminist, gender, and sexuality studies at Cornell University. “Coconut oil, ghee, and Vaseline were all key depending on where one was in the African diaspora. In some cultures, mud and clay are used to lock in moisture.” Bekele still uses raw butter in her hair today. “I apply it directly to my scalp once a week, massaging until the butter melts, and let it sit for a few hours or overnight. And the benefits are beyond hair care — it moisturizes skin.”

Of course, with so much diversity within the country, there are tons of hair secrets to mine. “Ethiopia has over 80 different ethnic groups; hair signifies something different to each tribe,” says Bekele. “They all have their own special traditions, like brides wearing silver or gold beads, partially shaved heads with intricate braids to signify youth, or using red clay to twist the hair or paint scalps.” And many women in Ethiopia dye their hair, but not with foil strips and chemical fumes. Women from the Hamer tribe use raw butter and fresh ochre, made of red clay paste, to paint their hair a deep terracotta color. They then twist their newly colored hair into thin locs called goscha. The twists are meant to signal health and vitality. Many of the hairstyles in Ethiopia are so intricate that women have even been known to preserve them by sleeping on a wooden headrest.

​A version of this article originally appeared in the March 2018 issue of Allure.